About Ascension
About Ascension
Ascension Loves
Our Philosophy
Ascension on the Ground
Ascension Movie '09
Adam


Adam has worked in retail for the last 14 years. During that time he’s had all sorts of impressive sounding roles, most of which ended with the word “director”. He has a degree in Monetary Economics from the LSE and qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Arthur Andersen, but don’t let that put you off. These days his big thing is Ascension. Adam wants to show the world of business that an ethical business can also be a successful one. In time, Adam wants to head up our foundation so he can do all the brilliant projects that he’s been talking about all along.  When Adam’s not running Ascension he’s at home teaching his daughter Clara the benefits of recycling and trying to stop Digger digging up his vegetable patch!


Laurella was born with some sort of super power to know what is utterly fabulous. Always dressed in perfect concoctions, she’s in charge of finding the best ethical bits and pieces from across the globe. This means that everything you see on our site has been picked by her and her team. Hugely sporty and always on the go, Laurella’s also part of ‘The Sisterhood’ who raised over £120,000 for charity and set a world record for dragon boating the channel. Word has it that they’re up to something new so watch this space....


Claire has the loveliest of smiles, perhaps it’s because she’s finally found her calling. After a two year stint at an accountancy firm and a few months up to her elbows in paint and play-doh, with her adorable son Louis, she was ready for a new challenge. Claire ended up on our doorstep and has proved to be a natural, not just at accounts but literally everything she takes on board. We also love the fact that Louis has joined us as one of our resident Ascension models as we like to keep things in the family.


Simone’s been trotting the globe since she left her homeland of New Zealand. She finished her degree in France and then felt New York calling so headed over there for a year. Before joining the happy band at Ascension she worked for one of the top fashion PR agencies in Britain. Yet it wasn’t catwalk shows and glamorous parties that turned her on, it was a little organic fashion brand that she took on. Since then her love affair for ethical fashion has deepened and she loves nothing more that talking about it.


Digger is our little package of fun (well Adam’s to be exact) and he turned 6 months in May. Never have we seen so much energy bundled into such a small being - we’re thinking that his tail could power a wind turbine for the office!  He can be found learning to walk on a lead in the garden and running and sliding around our chill out room – he’s certainly mastered the art of balance – perhaps he’ll be a good surfing companion for Sarah when he’s older!


Neil is big in logistics and manufacturing. He brings all sorts of useful operational and IT knowledge to the company - in other words, he’s the chap who does all the important stuff behind the scenes to make sure that we can get products out to you. When Neil’s not sorting stuff out at Ascension his first love is spending time on his allotment with his wife.  He enjoys the step back to a simpler time and can be found sitting with a hot cup of tea drawing in the community spirit and swapping his fresh fruit and veg with his fellow allotmenteers.


Rebekka is our new recruit in Marketing, she’s full of energy and not long out of university.  When she doesn’t have her head in data or on the phone organising events, she’s trying to convince her friends to do a carbon-free road trip from London to Marrakech. She also speaks a host of languages including Spanish and French and has a surprising talent for Salsa dancing if anyone’s interested...


Eleanor has always been infatuated with fashion. Starting as a toddler (who refused to wear dungarees), she moved up to man the shop floor, carried on to study fashion at Uni and then worked her way up through the buying ranks at New Look. Here, she learnt the dirty secrets of the fashion industry and set out to do something about it. She’s loved the challenge of building Ascension’s fashion from scratch and is now in charge of developing the products for our own label. When she isn’t sifting through trends and colour palettes it’s likely she’ll be discussing cake.


Mark is everything a finance director should be - a qualified Chartered Accountant with bags of commercial experience in the hard-nosed world of international big business. Despite this Mark’s nose is agreeably soft. He ran the Great North Run dressed as a huge furry dog for Millstream Animal Shelter and has a profound love of anything sweet. Biscuits and chocolate are his particular favorites’, which he can absorb through osmosis.


Daizy turned 15 years young this year. She’s an old mongrel with a heart of gold and is a dedicated follower of Mark. Come and meet Mark at Ascension and Daizy will sit at your feet throughout the meeting. She does have a nosey instinct though and likes to potter around and pop over for a little sniff and pat here and there. Fiercely loyal and incredibly good at sleeping, Daizy is our resident Ascension dog.


Isabel is in charge of making sure all of our great products have been booked and are on their way to our warehouse. She adores fashion and doesn’t claim to be the most ethical shopper but after joining us recently she’s already changing her shopping habits (that, we like to see!). Isabel has the genius ability to talk about all things girly one minute and swiftly switch to a very serious voice tone when she’s talking business. We reckon she gets this from her young Dorset farmer friends who she is often found making chocolate and crisps with – and which we of course encourage her to bring into the office!


Working her way up from the shop floor, Sophie’s been involved in most areas of retail. Strings to her bow include visual merchandiser, store manager, customer services trainer, even the humble sales assistant. She’s either sold it, styled it or road tested it and now she’s loving buying it. Away from the busy buying team at Ascension she can be found peering through the eye of a lens. She’s a keen amateur photographer and recently volunteered her services to assist on a photo shoot for the RNLI in the lovely county of Cornwall.


Sarah is the production department of Ascension and part-time globe-trotter. Having visited the garment factories of Colombia, China and Bulgaria she’s most definitely got the travel bug. When off duty Sarah likes to travel anywhere and everywhere (particularly if a camper van’s involved). She’s known in the South West for being a part time surfer-chick – sometimes on the waves, but more often chilling in the local coffee shops.


Clare does the legwork to make sure that the brands we stock are as ethical as they say they are.  After working in both trade and aid for over 10 years (with a bit of conservation campaigning in the middle), Clare then headed up Rugmark UK - working to end exploited child labour in South Asia’s rug industry.  Passionate that trade should benefit the poor, she helped the Fairtrade Foundation develop and launch Fairtrade cotton and now works with NGOs and companies researching, developing and implementing strategic ethical trading programmes.